Impulsive People Are More Likely to Get Hacked

A study from Michigan State University revealed that impulsive behaviour online, like obsessive use of social media, shopping, and downloading music, is tied to a higher risk of falling victim to cybercrime. People with such characteristics are especially vulnerable around special calendar events and holidays.

“It seems that your personality is critical to your vulnerability to cybercrime. Various scammers and hackers use time, fear, and money to lure people into their net,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN. “If you notice an online deal that sounds too good to be true, don’t be impulsive and think twice. It might save you from losing your online identity, sensitive data, or money.”

According to the study, people who show “shortsightedness, negligence, physical versus verbal behaviour and an inability to delay gratification” are at higher risk of hacking. This group is especially vulnerable when hackers disguise malware, viruses, or scams as a legitimate app, deal, or website.

The research has found that even though younger people, especially millennials, are perceived as more tech-savvy, some of them are more likely to fall victim to scammers. That is because they are more open about sharing personal information and tend to take more risks online.

“Last year, more than 1 billion people were affected by various data breaches. This year, a massive security breach has potentially exposed the private data of as many as 800 million people, making it one of the biggest leaks in the history,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN. “All this data is an invaluable resource to hackers who can now tailor sophisticated phishing or social engineering scams. It will certainly be used this year, and those who show impulsive behaviour online are likely to suffer”

NordVPN’s digital privacy expert points out that different software protecting users from malware is not enough. Their behaviour is just as important. “You can have the best antivirus, the best VPN, the best firewall, but if you provide your credit card details to a scammer, none of these will help you,” explains Daniel Markuson.

The self-control of nearly 6,000 respondents was evaluated during the research. Researchers measured how people would react in different situations involving digital behaviour.